Welcome to ALTAIR v1.00 for Windows NT / Windows 95. ALTAIR is a FTN (Fidonet Technology Network) compatable mail tosser. It will convert messages from the .PKT format into JAM or *.MSG style messages while create a Bluewave compatable mail packet if desired. Table of Contents Quick Reminders Introduction to ALTAIR and mail processing System Requirements Usage Shareware information and Registration Conclusion Quick Reminders Here are a couple of reminders that you should take note of when installing ALTAIR. This will help you avoid certain problems. 1. Always be certain that all paths are correct and all directories exist before running ALTAIR. 2. When defining your archivers, make sure to use *full* path names like c:\archiver\pkunzip.exe %a %f 3. ALTAIR v1.00 does not allow for you to configure the names of the message base files. This will be corrected in the next release. Until then, ALTAIR will use the directory you define plus the echotag you define as the path to the message base. Example : The area WIN32 in directory f:\messages\win32 would be f:\messages\win32\win32.jhr, etc. for a JAM base. The area BBS_CARNIVAL in directory f:\messages\bbs_carnival would be f:\messages\bbs_carnival\bbs_carn.jhr, etc. for JAM bases to ALTAIR. To your DOS BBS software that would translate to f:\messages\bbs_ca~1\bbs_carn.jhr, etc. You can use the dir /x command on Windows NT to view the 8.3 filenames that are assigned by the system for DOS compatability. 4. When running ALTAIR setup for the first time, be sure to enter *all* information correctly. It is vital to a successful installation. 5. If you have any difficulty installing ALTAIR, please contact the author via netmail at 1:115/583.1 or via internet email at KEVIN_KUPHAL@unitybbs.com Introduction to ALTAIR and mail processing. This documentation will not go into great detail about processing mail in a FTN setup. Being a mail processor for operating systems like Windows NT and Windows 95, a certain degree of familiarity with Fidonet and its operation is expected. ALTAIR's view of network mail is simple. Each site that you send or recieve mail to is considered a link. Each zone is considered a somewhat separate entity. Sending mail to the same "site" in different zones would involve two links in ALTAIR. This should reduce some of the confusion inolved with AKAs, downlinks, uplinks, and the like. This may be different than some other mail processors be we find it to be a simple and effective way to manage mail. You can find detailed information on setting up ALTAIR in the help file included with the setup application. ALTAIR has been in development for over a year beginning with Windows NT v3.1 and the accompaning SDK. During the year, we have moved to Visual C++ v2.0 and then to v2.1 and also to Windows NT v3.5 and then to Windows NT 3.51. We also do testing under Windows 95 for compatability. ALTAIR supports the JAM and *.MSG style message areas as well as Bluewave compatable mail packets including version 2.20. ALTAIR makes no guarantee of any kind. In the end you use this product at your own risk. I will make all reasonable attempts to support this product to ensure that you can use it as well on your system as I do on mine but there are no guarantees, as we all know, in the computer industry. System Requirements ALTAIR's only requires that you be running under Windows NT or Windows 95. We have tested ALTAIR under Windows NT 3.51 and Windows 95 Build 950. We expect ALTAIR to run with all versions of Windows NT and Windows 95 but cannot guarantee anything. ALTAIR has no known memory requirements beyond those required for the above operating systems. If you will be using the BlueWave compatable portion of ALTAIR, you will need to have a BlueWave reader compatable with either version 2.11, 2.12, or 2.20 of the BlueWave Mail Reader. Usage ALTAIR's usage is very simple. ALTAIR TOSS will unarchive, with properly configured archivers, incoming mail packets and toss those packets into the designated areas. ALTAIR will also, upon request, create a Bluewave mail packet in selected areas for use by a sysop or other interested party for mail reading. ALTAIR supports maximum messages in message areas and will keep any selected areas at their maximum ammount. With *.MSG areas this means deleting old messages and with JAM areas it means marking old messages as deleted. You will need a third party utility to pack JAM bases or use ALTAIR PURGE. This will be immediately remedied in a future version. ALTAIR SCAN will unarchive any outbound Bluewave mail packets into the local message bases. Then ALTAIR will scan those bases for outbound mail. If necessary it will create a Bluewave mail packet of these outbound message for a sysop to read. All outbound mail is the compressed into mail packets and placed for distribution by a front end mailer. ALTAIR PURGE will delete all messages in all message bases except netmail. *** READ CAREFULLY *** Use this command only when you wish to completely restart your message areas as ALTAIR will dynamically keep your message areas at set maximums during tossing. Shareware information and Registration Remember! ALTAIR is a shareware product. Use beyond the 30 day trial period is strictly prohibited. The shareware version is full featured except for a delay upon startup. During the first 30 days, this is a minor 5 second delay. For the next 15 days, ALTAIR will remind you that you are not allowed to use this product and will delay for 5 seconds. After that 15 day grace period, ALTAIR will institue a increasing delay for each day that you continue to use ALTAIR. Please refer to the REGISTER.TXT for registration information and pricing. Conclusion Please refer to the following documents for more information SETUP.HLP - For information on configuring ALTAIR REGISTER.TXT - For infomration on registration PRESSREL.* - Information packet for ALTAIR v1.00 Contains a short feature list, pricing, support information and benchmarks. Thank you for your time and for considering ALTAIR. I hope to hear from you soon. Kevin Kuphal, Author